Compare / Apache Airflow vs Dagster
Apache Airflow vs Dagster
Pick Airflow if you already live in DAGs (the published Astronomer stack). Pick Dagster if you want an asset-oriented orchestrator instead of a DAG-first scheduler.
Facts checked 19 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Apache Airflow in the catalog Dagster in the catalogStart on Railway
How they compare
| Apache Airflow | Dagster | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache License 2.0 (catalog) source | Apache License 2.0 (catalog) source |
| Language | Python (catalog) | Python (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 47,220 stars in the catalog source | 16,296 stars in the catalog source |
| Self-host | Published as /stacks/airflow-orchestrate. Webserver + scheduler + worker + Postgres. | Same stack as the sibling tool. Asset-oriented orchestrator. |
| Best for | DAGs you already have (the Astronomer shape). | Data assets instead of DAG-first scheduling. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Both are on /stacks/airflow-orchestrate. Airflow wants a metadata DB, scheduler, webserver, and worker. Dagster is a separate compose. ELT stays on /replace/fivetran. Transforms stay on /replace/dbt-cloud. Neither has a one-click c17 Railway template yet.
FAQ
- Is this dbt?
- No. dbt is SQL transforms — /replace/dbt-cloud. This pair schedules jobs.
- Is this Fivetran?
- No. Fivetran is extract-and-load — /replace/fivetran.
- Are these free?
- Both catalog rows are Apache License 2.0. You pay the workers and the metadata DB.
- How do I deploy Airflow?
- Open /stacks/airflow-orchestrate. Persist logs. Import one DAG you actually run.
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